Rite of Passage

The Rite of Passage


A few hundred miles north of the equator lays the land of the Yanomamo.  The village of the Yanomamo is surrounded by thick, lush vegetation.  At dawn, macaws, cockatoos, and spider monkeys flew from branch to branch creating a rustling among the tall bush and vine.  The bustle of the waking forest soon reached the Yanomamo people.

The village has begun celebrating the Chief's son, Kamainja's, rite of passage.  Kamainja's sixteenth birthday symbolized his first steps into adulthood. 

According to Yanomamo tradition, the Chief chooses a boy's rite of passage.  So, the Chief's son is assigned the toughest rite of all -- hunting the man-eating Black Caiman.  The notorious Black Caiman is symbolic of power and wisdom.  Legend has it that whoever kills the Black Caiman will achieve great wisdom.

Chief Koita's hut stood on mahogany stilts.  There are no walls.  The hut's ceiling is covered with huge banana leaves.  But, this week, Kamainja will stay at the men's hut which is on the other end of the village. 

In the men's hut, Kamainja will be visited by Yaleofuh, his younger brother, Shaman Jaguar, and Chief Koita.  Tonight they will accompany him while they share some potent snuff which will take Kamainja into the Spirit World. 

In the meantime, Kamainja and Yaleofuh will do the hunting for the entire village.  They will hunt spider monkey and the elusive tapir.  So, Kamainja grabbed his machete, and walked over to his family hut to meet his brother for the hunt. 
Kamainja stopped a few feet before the hut to ask permission for entering. 

"Come in," said his father, "Yaleofuh is preparing his darts for the hunt, he'll be ready soon!" 

His eldest son was embarrassed by his haste.  Kamainja not only forgot to prepare his darts, but he forgot to bring them with him.  With much embarrassment, he turned around and headed back toward the men's hut.  By the time Kamainja got back, he found Yaleofuh waiting outside. 

Yaleofuh ran to his brother and exclaimed, "Come on, we're late!"  So they headed toward the jungle.

The brothers trekked to the outskirts of the village where they crossed a little stream.  Upon entering the jungle, they began hacking away at the bush.  The hollow sounds of the crackling and crunching could be heard from a hundred yards away. 

Kamainja had mentioned to his brother that with all the excitement he had forgotten to eat breakfast.  So, both brothers decided to feast upon cacao and tubers. 
Now, Kamainja and Yaleofuh were content and went deeper into the jungle.  All of a sudden, they came across a troupe of spider monkeys flying from limb to limb above them. 

"What luck," whispered Kamainja, "we can get at least three monkeys out of this troupe!" 

So, they rushed to prepare their darts for the kill.  Kamainja got his poison dipped darts out of his tapir skinned quiver strapped along his back. While, Yaleofuh pulled out his blow-pipe.  Kamainja carefully inserted a dart into the blow-pipe.  Yaleofuh took aim and shot a young monkey.  Then, in haste, Kamainja loaded his own blow-pipe and shot two older monkeys.  One by one the monkeys dropped, hitting the earth with a great crunch!

The boys were amazed with their own success.  The hunt was almost over.  But,
before continuing, they carried the monkeys back to the village.

Now, came the hard part -- hunting down the elusive tapir.  In order to track the tapir, Kamainja and Yaleofuh hiked a quarter mile to a ravine.  When they reached their destination, the brothers saw hoof tracks along the river, and set a trap for the wild beast.  The brothers bent back a tall rubber tree by tying a piece of rope to it, then secured the rope to a shrub nearby.  Kamainja tied another long piece of rope towards the upper edge of the arched tree.  He finally attached a noose to the end of the rope.  Laying the noose on the ground, Kamainja camouflaged it with decayed leaves from the forest floor. 

When Kamainja was finished, Yaleofuh took out some banana and cassava mush from his monkey hide hunting bag and spread it all over the camouflaged noose.  Both brothers hid behind the bush, on either side of the trap.  There they sat, waiting patiently for the elusive tapir.  An hour, two hours, three hours went by in silence. 

Finally, as the sun began to descend, a loud chirping noise could be heard in the distance.  Then the chirping got louder and louder.  The chirping came from a tapir!  Kamainja and Yaleofuh found themselves watching a young tapir chirping its way toward the trap. 

Look, the tapir seems to be interested in the food, thought Kamainja, I'll start getting my darts ready.  As the tapir began to eat, Yaleofuh snuck close to chop the rope which would hoist the tapir to mid-air. 

Yaleofuh waited for Kamainja's macaw call.  Finally, a high GAWK GAWK came, and Yaleofuh chopped the taut rope.  Kamainja immediately blew three darts into the loudly chirping tapir's belly.  The tapir started to squirm.  A few moments later, it convulsed and died.  Before retrieving the tapir, the two brothers found a five-foot long, three inch thick limb from a rubber tree. 

Together they carried the limb over to the tapir.  There they freed the tapir from its trap, tied the tapir's hooves together, and hung it upside down along the limb.  Kamainja and Yaleofuh carried the weight of the heavy tapir on their shoulders.
As they headed back to the village, Yaleofuh exclaimed, "Wow, it seems we have enough food to last us a whole week!" 

"No," replied Kamainja, "the food will only last a day. You've forgotten, we will share this food with our tribesmen and women.  Tomorrow there will be a great feast when I go to the dark rivers to hunt the notorious Black Caiman."          
Yaleofuh looked worried, "Are you ready?" he asked his older brother. 

Kamainja was quiet for a while, but then said, "I'm not ready now, but, I will be ready tonight, after I've entered the world of the spirits.  With you, father, and Shaman Jaguar in my presence, I am sure to take on the spirit of the Black Caiman.  And when I become one with my prey, I will be able to outsmart him." 
"I suppose you are right," said Yaleofuh under his breath. 

Kamainja and Yaleofuh's home was finally in sight.  They had arrived just before darkness embraced the village.  As they approached the cooking area, the boys could smell  roasted monkeys from this morning's hunt.  Their Mother and other tribes woman were preparing food for the feast. Famished and exhausted, Kamainja and Yaleofuh collapsed the instant they put the tapir down.

"Kamainja," exclaimed his Mother, "go to the men's hut and rest.  You have a big day tomorrow.  Yaleofuh, here's your dinner!"

Yaleofuh grabbed the food from his Mother and began to eat.

At the men's hut, Kamainja ate a three coarse meal his Mother had left for him. He barely finished his last bite when Yaleofuh, Chief Koita, and Shaman Jaguar, carrying the blow-pipe and herbs, asked permission to enter the hut.  Permission was granted, and three men and one boy sat on the floor, forming a circle.  They watched Shaman Jaguar pound the dried hallucinogenic ginkgo leaves for the ceremonial blow-pipe.  He pounded it to dust, and then put it into the blow-pipe.  Kamainja was to receive his first dose. 

Seated across from the Shaman, Kamainja leaned his nose up against the blow-pipe.  Then the Shaman took a deep breath and blew the snuff up Kamainja's nose. 

The blow was so hard that Kamainja fell flat on his back. He lost consciousness for a moment, but then when he woke, the whole room was spinning.  Now, Kamainja had to take another dose of the snuff in order to enter the spirit world.  So, Shaman Jaguar put more ginkgo dust into his blow-pipe and helped Kamainja open the door to the darkness of the Amazon River.

This time, Kamainja fell back and didn't get up again -- he was now one with the Black Caiman.  Kamainja dreamed he was in a tunnel. He saw and felt his body spinning and flaying down toward the tunnel's abyss.  Until... 

Deep in the dark rivers of the Amazon, Kamainja's spirit saw the Black Caiman as it was resting in the river.  In the spirit world, Kamainja saw the tapir drinking from the river. Suddenly, it was snapped up by the Caiman.  There was no chance for escape.  Soon there was a crimson plume in the river where the tapir once stood.  Seeing one slight disturbance of the water was enough to cause death, Kamainja could plan his hunt for tomorrow's rite of passage.

Back in the men's hut, both Chief Koita and Yaleofuh camouflaged Kaminja’s body in green paint.  They also put a thicker nose stick into the cartilage between his nostrils to symbolize his entrance into manhood.  When his father and brother were finished, they left him alone with Shaman Jaguar.  The Shaman cast a spell on Kamainja which gave him the courage and the stealth needed to hunt the Black Caiman. Then Shaman Jaguar put him on his hammock and left.

The next day, Kamainja got up and started to prepare his poisoned darts, his blow-pipe, machete, and rope for the great kill.  He began to stuff a tapir skin sack with tubers and cassava until it resembled a tapir decoy.  In his tapir skinned quiver he put three heavy stones.  Now, Kamainja sat and waited in silence. 
Finally, the Shaman came into the men's hut to accompany Kamainja during his rite of passage. The Shaman was with Kamainja to observe to the mastery and stealth of the hunt.  They trekked a half mile north through the bush before arriving at the meandering Amazon River.  Shaman Jaguar left Kamainja alone to plan his attack on the Caiman. 

Kamainja found a tall tree near the river and climbed it carrying his stuffed tapir skin, rope, his quiver of stones with his poisoned darts and blow-pipe.  Once in the tree, he climbed onto a limb which stretched furthest over the river.  There, he had a bird's eye view of the activities down below. 

Thank goodness, he thought, there is only one Caiman in this region of the river.  I'll get the stuffed tapir and rope. 

Kamainja tied one end of the rope to the tapir and the other end to the tree; he then let the stuffed tapir dangle inches over the river.  Kamainja finally  reached for his stones, backed off the limb a couple of feet, and threw the first two stones into the water.  The Caiman found the stuffed tapir and jumped out of the water.  Kamainja was fast on his feet.  Kamainja shot five darts into the Caiman's stomach and grabbed his machete cutting the Caiman's throat -- the dark river was flowing with blood. 

The Shaman, who saw everything, came to Kamainja and bathed him in the Caiman's blood.  The two men grabbed the dead Caiman and prepared it for the village feast. 

Back at the village, the tribesmen and woman were dancing  in circles, honoring Kamainja's great hunt.  As Shaman Jaguar and Kamainja approached the village, they were surrounded by a group of tribesmen grabbing pieces of Kamainja's kill. 
Each tribesman and tribes woman devoured a piece of the Caiman to celebrate the success of Kamainja's journey into manhood and the longevity of the Yanomamo people.